Friday, September 12, 2008 Mom guilty of arson, told to pay P8.8M in damages
REGIONAL Trial Court (RTC) Branch 50 Judge Roberto Chiongson has sentenced to at least 30 years imprisonment Carla Benedicto Garcia-Novele for the crime of arson.
Benedicto was also ordered to pay P8,812,000 as compensatory damages for the burning of a two-storey building that she was renting 10 years ago.
Court records showed that on September 4, 1998, Benedicto "set fire to and burned the two-storey semi-concrete building owned by Carmelita Tan and rented by Ma. Luisa Lao-as at the corner of B.S. Aquino and Acacia Streets in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City, knowing it to be occupied at that time..."
Lao-as testified that around 1 p.m. of that day, Benedicto, who was then one of her boarders, came into her store looking for food but did not buy anything and proceeded to her rented room. After several minutes, Lao-as's husband, who was working in his office in a space adjacent to Benedicto's room, asked her to find out what the irritating noise coming from Benedicto's room was.
Lao-as said she entered the room of the accused and was shocked to see Benedicto "holding a candle in front of a burning wood cabinet." She then shouted to her husband that Benedicto is setting the house on fire.
Engineer Cesar Lao-as said he rushed to Benedicto's room after hearing his wife shouting that the accused is burning the house. He said he saw Benedicto standing beside the cabinet with the clothes in it burning. He also recalled seeing Benedicto "with a smile in her face."
The couple added that during the incident, Benedicto's then three year-old daughter was not with her in the house.
Results of the probe conducted by personnel of the Bacolod City Fire Department also pointed to Benedicto's room as the place where the fire started.
When Benedicto was arrested in 2006 and was arraigned, she pleaded not guilty to the charge hurled against her.
But Chiongson ruled that against the credible testimonies of the Lao-as couple and the arson investigators, "all that the accused can proffer is a flimsy, uncorroborated denial. It is a settled rule that denial, like alibi, is a very weak defense."
In his 11-page decision, the judge also took note of Benedicto's flight as "a strong indication of guilt."
"The records of this case show that a preliminary investigation was conducted where the accused submitted her counter-affidavit. The case for arson was filed against her in February 1999. The accused was arrested only on March 24, 2006. By her own admission, she evaded arrest," Chiongson added.
He found the accused guilty of arson as per Article 321 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Presidential Decree 1613 and sentenced her to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua with all its accessories.
As per Administrative Circular 6-A-92 issued by then Chief Justice Andres Narvasa on June 21, 1993, "reclusion perpetua entails imprisonment of at least 30 years after which the convict becomes eligible for pardon."
Chiongson also ordered Benedicto to pay building owner Tan P7,812,000 and the Lao-as couple P1 million as civil liability, which shall bear interests of 12 percent per year from the date of this decision until paid. (Merlinda Pedrosa)
